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Most of the participants in this series go back through the generations, dredging up tragedies about great-grandparents. Not Patrick Stewart. His focus is totally on his father, Alfred, a man Stewart remembers mainly through the war stories he told and, sadly, recollections of domestic violence towards his mother.

As Stewart finds out more about his father’s horrific war experiences, his view shifts. “I have a history for him that is richer than any history I’ve had before… at the heart of that history is a human being… and I don’t think he had been a human being for me before,” he concludes movingly.

About this programme

3/10. Actor Patrick Stewart's memories of his childhood are scarred by recollections of domestic abuse. In this documentary tracing his ancestry, he investigates his father's extraordinary career in the Army and discovers the shocking impact it had on his character. Patrick recalls that his mother was subjected to outbursts of violence by her husband, and that an ambulance occasionally had to be called. In later life, the star has used his fame to try to help people in similar circumstances.